Predestination

In the first book of St. Augustine’s De Libero Arbitrio, Augustine and his student, Evodius, explore the problem of evil. More specifically, they explore the the question, “Is not God responsible for evil?” In trying to answer this question many more questions focused on evil arise. St. Augustine and his peers explore the original cause of evil and come to the conclusion that God is not to blame for evil, but man is to blame because he abuses the free will that God has given him. In this essay,…

Most people believe that they have the free will to choose between genuine alternatives. I will show you how an individual who has not been exposed to these ideas may be uninformed in the eyes of philosophy. I choose to take the position of the hard determinist. I will analyze this position, what it means, and why I have decided to stand with it. Then I will show a common refutation against the hard determinist that says how this type of determinism entails a lack of moral responsibility which…

Jesse Cadle Brit Lit 11-19-14 Prompt A In life there are two outlooks on the future depending on what you believe in. It’s all about fate and free will. Fate believes things happen because that’s the path God intended for you to pursue. It’s almost like God wrote down your entire life when you were born and that’s supposed to be the way it goes. It’s a path you must follow, while free will is setting your future with the present. The story of Macbeth is a tragedy. It is often played that fate…

Do humans have free will? In this essay I am going to explore this philosophical contention. Firstly, I will present a personally preferred definition of fatalism. Secondly, I will summarise the argument by Theodore Schick; that fatalism is true in the world of the Matrix and explain why I think this is an unsuccessful argument. Finally, I intend to discuss why I think fatalism is false in our current world providing reasons for my answer. Fatalism is a philosophical principle that states all…

Throughout history, their has been numerous philosophical thinkers who have dedicated their teachings and works to a greater divine being. Two influential philosophical figures that have dedicated their works to the further understanding of God and how he relates with the world around us is Saint Thomas Aquinas and Augustine of Hippo. These two innovative thinkers were consistent with their principles of faith and reasoning, the existence of God, and theories of other religious ideas interpreted…

Fate, a human’s destiny in life, is a heavily debated concept that ranges from philosophy, to theology, and even to modern science; however, even in this range can be generalized in three simplified schools of thought. One may argue that every move in a person’s life is predestined in some divine way, proceeded by the concept of free will with divine consequences, and ending with the idea of complete free will without any exterior factors. In generalizing these categories of fate, some specific…

Foreknowledge Versus Free Will The philosophical problem concerning human sin and God’s foreknowledge lies in the principle that if God is omniscient, humans cannot be held responsible for sin. This dilemma deals primarily with determinism and libertarianism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines determinism as “the idea that every event is necessitated by antecedent events and conditions together with the laws of nature” (Hoefer, 1). Libertarianism can be defined by the denial of…

The concept of fate, the idea that there is a higher power that controls every aspect of one’s life, has plagued mankind since the dawn of philosophy. According to an article called “When it comes to fate, even non-believers believe”, "Among God-believers, 84.8 percent reported some degree of belief in fate, 13.0 percent reported they were neutral and 2.2 percent denied belief in fate." Almost everyone believes in fate at some point in their life; although, the event in their life where fate…

In Janz article 83, Calvin discusses his work and belief on predestination. Predestination was an important topic during the reformation which is why Calvin had addressed it in his writings. According to Calvin’s understanding of the scripture, there is an explain that God has an eternal election. What Calvin means by eternal election is God has already selected the individuals that will receive salvation and those who will receive destruction. When human try and understand how God’s election…

we do not end up like those robots, and this is also why predestination is flawed. Per Hasle says the main problem to predestination “is whether God died for all men, or for ‘the Elect’” (339). The meaning Per is asking of that is that in the Bible Jesus died for all men’s sins not just the select few and the ones that are damned to hell will never get their sins forgiven. Therefore, external reality is that flawed meaning of predestination, and the free will aspect of things, it is Newton’s…